June 26, 2025
Dear editor;
In a recent Reader’s Commentary authored by Mr. Bela Suhayda (June 24, 2025), there were several implications or suggestions pertaining to the financial support of this country’s colleges and universities that seem to derive from the author’s distorted perspective.
In questioning the motivation of foreign sources or even of our own government in funding our academic institutions, Mr. Suhayda fails to point out that much of this funding supports scientific and health-related teaching and research. For years, our institutions have been acknowledged by the rest of the world to be the very best in these areas, with Harvard being generally recognized as most notable among them. It should come as no surprise that other countries are eager to send money as well as their own young students to be the benefactors of our expertise.
Education, and research in particular, is expensive. Both are critical to the future of mankind, and yet Donald Trump has chosen to suspend their support under the guise of his concern for antisemitism. When was the last time Donald Trump had a concern for anything or anybody other than himself or his wealth? Trump thrives on the ignorance of others. What better way to maintain his grip on the ignorant than by depriving them of the facts? Suppress education. Suppress science. Remove history books from the shelves of our libraries. Defund our colleges and universities. His plan is obvious, and it has nothing to do with antisemitism!
And that brings my attention back to the aforementioned commentary of Mr. Suhayda. I find his comments regarding current college curricula to be puzzling at best and absolutely false at worst. I found it surprising that according to Mr. Suhayda, the story of Anne Frank (not Ann, as referenced by Suhayda) and the Holocaust itself is no longer taught in our colleges. My surprise led me to a quick online search of the latest Northern Illinois University (NIU) course catalog, and there I found no fewer than three different offerings from the History Department which I’m certain would have included the topics claimed to be missing from the curriculum. In fact the summary of one of the courses (HIST 429) makes specific reference to “antisemitism and the Holocaust”. Without consulting numerous other course catalogs, I feel quite confident that NIU’s History Department is quite representative of most other departments across the nation. Draw your own conclusions.
While I can certainly share in Mr. Suhayda’s concern for the preservation of the past history and the current well-being of the Jewish people, it is my hope that he can share with me my own concern for the past history and current well-being of other minority groups which are being marginalized by our current administration.
Vincent Smith, Big Rock